


The Pumpkin King and The Christmas Elf

by LicieOIC



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Crack, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Halloween, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4971865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LicieOIC/pseuds/LicieOIC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor has been the reigning Pumpkin King for over 900 years and he is utterly bored. A walk through the forest leads him to an adventure he never expected and a Christmas Elf who will change his lonely life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boredom and the Unexpected Adventure

The Doctor was bored. He’d been bored for a very long time, tonight had just been the catalyst that forced him to admit it to himself.

It was the early morning hours after Halloween and the celebration had been his most successful one yet. He should have been riding the high of sweet satisfaction after such a delightfully terrifying night, and yet he wasn’t. He’d been the reigning Pumpkin King for over 900 years, and dead for much longer than that, and he’d just grown so tired of it all. Halloween, year after year, the same old scares. It had lost all meaning for him. He knew it wouldn’t be too long before everyone in Halloweentown noticed his ennui, he was lucky that no one had seen how he’d mailed in his performance mere hours ago. It wasn’t enough for him anymore, he wanted something… more. He just didn’t know what.

He’d gone for a long walk through the tulgey wood outside of town after the celebration, hoping to clear his head. The stark black trees reaching their spindly limbs up toward the sky all blurred together as he trudged on, putting one foot in front of the other, letting the scenery just pass by, heedless of how long he’d been out. By his side trundled his faithful robot dog, K-9. The Doctor had pieced him together one year out of some spare parts and had continued upgrading him over time. The red of the dog’s lighted eyes lit up the Doctor’s path through the woods.

Sighing, he wondered how he’d become so unhappy. Certainly, he loved Halloween, he loved his town… Or at least, he remembered loving it. He remembered getting excited over planning the yearly revels, the anticipation before a performance, the feeling of a sly smile of delight creeping across his pale face right before scaring the wits out of someone. Now… it just all felt the same.

He looked down at himself, at his dark pinstriped suit clinging to his skinny frame, the battered plimsolls on his feet. The same thing he always wore, as familiar as… well, the back of his hand. He pulled his hands from his pockets and looked at them, the milky grayish color, the dark nails, the backs bearing a sprinkling of dark, manly hair, then dragged both of them down his angular face with a groan. There was nothing new in his life, nothing different, nothing… interesting!

He yawned, blinking in surprise as he noticed the first blood red streaks of dawn painting themselves across the sky in the distance. Just how long had he been out walking?

“Master,” came K-9’s chirping robotic voice, drawing his attention. “My sensors indicate a bizarre temporal anomaly just ahead.”

Curious, the Doctor picked up his pace and entered a small clearing. What he saw there perplexed him.

What seemed to be a clearing was really more of a circle of trees, all spaced equidistant from each other. On every tree, a large image was carved and painted, each one of them different, and below, sitting amongst the trees’ roots, lay an object or offering of some kind. One tree had a big green plant or flower with four petals on it, another had a large pink heart. Two of them had something edible, one had a colorful egg and the other had a plump bird with lots of feathers. And one tree had what looked like a red box with white stars on it, but the Doctor didn’t quite know what to make of that one.

The tree that really held his attention, however, the one that made him blink his eyes in fascinated wonder, was the one that had a different sort of tree carved into it. He’d never seen another tree like it, it was all green with pointy limbs gently draping downward and shiny baubles had been hung all over it. A garland of gold was wrapped around it and at the top was placed a shining star. He moved closer to it without even realizing, his dark brown eyes wide and staring.

One of the baubles, a pretty golden one, seemed to glimmer at him, winking in the dawning light, almost daring him to touch it. His fingers were reaching out before he was aware. He just had to touch this… _magical-looking_ tree.

To his surprise, the bauble turned under his hand and the carving moved, swinging outward on hinges. It wasn’t a carving… it was a _door!_

Deep within his breast, something stirred. A flutter, like a moth at the windowpane. His insides felt as if they were being squeezed. He hadn’t felt anything like this in ages. It was exhilarating!

Pressing one hand to his abdomen to hopefully quell some of the shenanigans going on in there, he tip toed just a little bit closer to the tree with the now open door, wanting a peek inside. He was expecting it to be quite small, like a closet someone had carved into the tree, but all he could see was a fathomless black, different from the dark of night or the coat of a cat, this was like… the depth of space itself. He pondered how a tree could be so much bigger on the inside.

With a sigh, he straightened and turned away, but that queer feeling hadn’t diminished. A chill crept down his spine in a way that it hadn’t since his first Halloween as a breath of wind wrapped itself around his body. A delightful shiver wracked his whole body from head to toe as sparkling motes of white dust carried on the air swirled around him. He followed their journey, tilting his head back to watch them fly, but managed to overbalance himself in the process. He tried to catch himself by taking a step back, but he tripped over the tree’s roots and tumbled, arse over teakettle, right through the open door of the tree.

“Master! Master!” K-9 called out over the quickly diminishing cry of the falling Pumpkin King. But the little robot dog could do nothing as the door swung shut.

\---

The first thing he realized was that he was wet. Wet and cold, but it was very unlike the normal chill of death, which was quite welcome and comforting, this cold had a _bite_ to it, which was quite enjoyable in its own way. Blinking his eyes open, the Doctor found himself staring up into a clear sky, full of stars, but the expanse was deep, deep blue, rather than black.

Sitting up from the lying position he’d been in, he found he’d landed in a drifted pile of wet, cold, white stuff. He picked up a handful of it and brought it up close to his face to examine it. He tried pinching a bit between his fingers to see if it had the texture of sand, but it melted away to water. _How peculiar,_ he thought, _that a large amount tends to stick together but a small amount will disappear in moments. I wonder what it is..._ Unfolding his lanky form from the white pile, he stood up and shook himself to try and dislodge the powdery stuff from his person, but while most of it fell off, tiny particles clung to him in sparkling crystals.

A cheery whistle tooted in the distance and he looked up, his eyes growing large. A little town lay in the valley below the hill he stood on, the little brown houses with red and white trims all bathed in a warm glow. A train was departing on the far side, its whistle announcing a farewell. Just as with the tree-door, the Doctor felt himself pulled forward, his curiosity tingling with the need to have a closer look.

He stumbled when he took a step and his foot sank into the white stuff, which seemed to be laying everywhere in a thick coat, but he did better as he made his way more carefully down the hill.

A smile quirked the corners of his mouth as he passed by what appeared to be the crude lumpy sculpture of a man made out of the white stuff toward the bottom of the slope. It even had a little top hat on its head. He thought over the construction of such a thing for a moment, how it seemed backward to make something out of so flimsy a substance, but in the next moment he believed he understood. Half the fun must be remaking the sculpture and coming up with new versions as well. Ingenious!

The little town was bordered on one side with a small mountain range, on another side with a large frozen lake, and ringed on two other sides with tall, deep green trees. On closer inspection, he surmised them to be real versions of the tree depicted on the door he’d fallen through, but what confused him was when he saw people in fur trimmed jackets cutting some of these trees down. Instead of cutting them up for firewood or timber, they hauled them whole inside their houses! Wondering what they were doing, the Doctor moved to the nearest house and peered inside the window, taking care to remain hidden, which wasn’t too difficult for a master of sneaking such as himself.

He watched as the people propped the tree up in a prominent spot and began covering it in tiny toys, shiny baubles, garlands, and strings with colored electric lights, making it begin to more closely resemble the tree-door. He could tell that this was important to them, but why?

And the people, they were odd themselves, dressing up in these fur trimmed little outfits of red and green and, less often, other colors. The Doctor was so used to seeing black and white and gray and occasional touches of red or orange that his eyes almost hurt to look at everything. The tunics these people wore ended in short skirts with striped tights underneath, their little shoes were in matching colors with pointed toes, and the likewise pointy caps on their heads ended in a little bell. The Doctor thought they looked fairly ridiculous, but he supposed he would look strange to them as well. He did rather like their rosy cheeks, however. Everyone just looked so happy and he couldn’t fathom the reason.

Peering through another frosted windowpane, he saw a couple putting their little child to sleep, tenderly kissing the youngster’s forehead and slipping out of the room. But though the Doctor continued to watch for a short while, no red eyes appeared beneath the bed, no gnashing teeth, no slippery tentacles. _Is Moe on vacation?_ the Doctor wondered, thinking of his friend back home who should have been scaring the kid by now. _What gives?_ And though he was confused, he had to admit that the child looked quite content, drifting off to sleep without even a hint of apprehension.

Questions whirled in his brain, coming faster and faster the more he observed. It was _amazing._ He hadn’t felt this alive since… well, he couldn’t remember since when. Perhaps since he’d last been _actually_ alive. But he had far too many questions and no answers forthcoming and the Doctor _hated_ that feeling. He needed to know _why_ this place made him feel the way he did. How could he go about gaining an understanding, however, when he didn’t know if the locals were friendly to outsiders? He rubbed his chin, drawing his eyebrows close together, as he looked around, searching for an answer. Finally his eyes settled on a large building which had a sign over the door - _Christmastown Public Library._

“Christmastown, eh?” He grinned, his expression lighting up with manic glee, and he quickly snuck around to the back of the structure, looking for a covert way in. Surely the library wouldn’t object to him… borrowing… a few items? In the pursuit of knowledge, of course.

\---

By the time the Doctor returned to Halloweentown, he was certainly glad the pockets of his jacket were dimensionally transcendent. Seemingly bottomless pockets were ideal for epic trick-or-treating, but they were extremely useful to him today as well. Otherwise, he might have thrown out his back trying to haul his load of research materials home.

The sun was already setting as the gate before his house opened for him, he’d spent the whole day in Christmastown, it seemed. He brushed past the anxious Mayor, who whined at him something about plans for next year’s Halloween, and slammed the door in his revolving face. Couldn’t the Mayor see that the Doctor was doing something important? He didn’t have time for Halloween plans!

K-9, who’d faithfully waited for him the whole time he’d been away, had followed him back home and went immediately to his docking port where he plugged himself in for a much-needed recharge. The Doctor paid him no mind as he carefully retrieved each item he’d pilfered, ahem, _borrowed,_ setting them on his empty work table one by one.

First, he read every book he’d taken back with him, then he read them again, to see if any revelations would pop out at him the second time. Sometimes reading things again improved one’s comprehension, after all. But the picture still seemed foggy to him. Sitting back in his favorite arm chair, he sighed, then frowned at the interior of his house.

It was ill-lit, covered in cobwebs, and visited by the occasional odd draft, just the way he liked it. The floors were bare hardwood and the furniture was old and dark, the upholstery a bit shabby from use. The surfaces were either littered with spare mechanical parts or completely barren of clutter. He tapped his chin, thoughtfully looking back down at the illustrated book in his lap. The drawing on the page that the book was currently open to showed a smiling family in their sitting room, lit in a warm halo by the nearby fire. Stockings were hung by the mantle, ‘with care’ he thought, remembering his reading, and a decorated tree was right behind them. They looked… what was the word? _Cozy._

“Perhaps if I get more into the ‘spirit’ of things,” he thought with a touch of wry humor, “it will make more sense.”

Setting the book aside, he got to his feet and headed for the stairs that led to his basement. He ought to have some things in storage that would work, he often threw things down there when he grew tired of them, as he acquired more. The clutter of several lifetimes would surely hold many treasures that could be converted for this use.

Hours later, he settled down in a pile of blankets before a cheerfully blazing fire. The spider that had taken residence in his fireplace was quite put-out, but the Doctor had helpfully relocated it to the other side of the room where it was spinning a new web around some artfully strung colored lights. He’d only managed to find colored lights in orange and deep purple, but it was better than nothing.

With the help of one of his books, he had taken some paper and cut out snowflake shapes to paste over his windows. He was glad to have discovered the name of the white flakes, even more so to discover that each one was different. The geometric shapes had intrigued him for such a long time that he’d ended up creating enough paper snowflakes to hang from the ceiling as well.

He had also needed to venture outside for some firewood, and trying to find greenery to hang had been an exercise in futility. Eventually, he compromised and cut down a large bush with black leaves to bring back with him. It wasn’t green, but it was leafy, and he thought the hanging boughs created a pleasant effect once they were tied up with bright red ribbon all along his many bookshelves. The tree he’d selected to decorate was decidedly much sparser than the fat, green trees he’d seen in Christmastown, but he found that this tree’s spindly black branches made the little baubles he’d hung stand out quite well, so he considered it a win.

With the fire roaring at his back and the many candles flickering throughout the room, making the various shadows dance on the walls, he decided he rather enjoyed feeling ‘cozy.’ He’d even changed into a long nightshirt and placed one of the pointy belled caps on his head before settling in to continue his reading.

But it wasn’t enough. Nothing seemed to stand out to him anymore than it had before and his head felt so full of information that the words were starting to lose all meaning. Setting the last book aside, he rent off his cap and tugged at his tousled brown hair with both hands, gritting his teeth in frustration.

“There’s _got_ to be a logical way to explain this Christmas thing!” he said. A moment later, his eyes lit up. Perhaps that could be the answer.

He stood up and went to one of his bookshelves, pulling down a large volume that boasted _The Scientific Method_ as its title. He began examining the other items he’d brought back with him for study, like a few of the various toys he’d seen the elves building and then wrapping up in boxes, ‘presents’ he knew they were called, and the samples of plant life, like the decorative holly with its blood red berries and the strange compulsory plant called mistletoe. He had yet to experience the need to kiss someone in the presence of this plant, but he handled it with care all the same. Just in case.

But there were no revelations to be found inside the little bear stuffed with cotton fluff, and the little doll’s plaintive cry for ‘mama’ gave him no answers either. Mixing the crushed remnants of a tree ornament with different chemicals had produced some interesting and often colorful reactions, but the meaning behind it escaped him. The holly berry contained nothing but a seed, a normal thing for a plant to carry, but it offered no explanation as to the bizarre feelings Christmastown inspired in the Doctor. As for the mistletoe, he deemed it too dangerous for close study, but he hung it up in the middle of the room all the same. He thought the elves very brave to keep something like it around, he suspected that it was quite poisonous.

He cleared his chalkboard and wrote down his various findings, for the book declared that the difference between ‘science’ and ‘messing around’ was writing things down. He tried to break Christmas down into equations, but the variables were too many and too broad for him to come to a distinctive conclusion.

At long last, he put the chalk down in the tray and heaved a long sigh. He tugged at his hair again, leaving behind chalk dust. He didn’t want to admit defeat, but it seemed like the harder and harder he tried, the more Christmas seemed to elude his grasp. His skull pounded with a dull ache, as if every fact and fable he’d memorized was trying to escape.

He wandered to the nearby window and threw it open, hoping some air would help. He leaned heavily on the sill, propping himself up on his hands, and stared out across Halloweentown. He had no idea how long he’d been sequestered with his research.

“I’m missing something,” he said to himself, or perhaps to K-9, who was using his nose to roll a bauble across the floor. “If only I could recapture that special feeling…” His tired eyes drifted further, to the forest on the outskirts of town.

He straightened, inspiration sparking. “That’s it. Perhaps I _have_ missed something. Something _vitally_ important! That’s the only logical explanation. I need to go back and find it!”

A little giggle trilled out of him as he changed his clothes in a flash, once again donning his dark pinstripes, and he hurried out of his home, his long coat dramatically flapping behind him. He completely ignored the few people who tried to stop him, to ask him what was going on. He didn’t have time for explanations, that could wait. He had to return to Christmastown and find his answers.

\---

His second visit started much like the first with him skirting the edges of the happy little town, staying out of sight of the residents. He managed to make his way toward the center square, where the largest and most important-looking building sat. A sign declared it _Santa’s Workshop_ and most of the elves seemed to find occupation there.

Santa Claus was a very important figure, at least, that was what the Doctor had managed to glean from his reading. Santa featured in almost every story and he seemed as integral to Christmas as the Doctor was himself to Halloween, as the Pumpkin King. He felt quite curious about Mr Claus, but was apprehensive about actually meeting him. As the leader of the town, Santa would be the one to decide what to do with the Doctor should he be discovered, and what if he decided to throw him out before he could find any answers? That wouldn’t do. So, the Doctor was very careful as he looked through windows and observed the various elves creating toys and others baking treats of all types and sizes.

The longer he stayed and observed, the more he seemed to fill with that queer feeling he’d experienced on his first trip, as if the elves’ happiness was rubbing off on him. In Halloweentown, the delight of others had long since stopped being a source of pride and their fawning over him had started to become more of a nuisance. It was different here. He saw the elves being happy in their tasks and it made him feel happy as well. It made no sense to him.

Alongside this feeling, his curiosity grew and grew, his need for answers gnawed at him. _What_ is _this?_ his mind cried out. _I’ve got to know!_

He was so lost in thought, he didn’t hear the footsteps crunching through the snow behind him. Likewise, the elf coming in his direction had her attention focused inside the shopping bag she was carrying, so both of them were quite surprised when the Doctor turned around to go to another window and they ended up crashing into one another.

They both fell backwards into the snow with a cry, getting completely submerged in the powdery knee-high ice, and the shopping bag went flying through the air.

Fear was a familiar friend in the Doctor’s gut and it swooped all through him as he realized he’d been discovered. Thinking it was better to get the drop on the situation, he sat up and started babbling, “Hello! I’m sure you’re wondering who I am and what I’m doing here. I’m the Doctor, I’m new in town, and--”

The Doctor’s rambling sentence petered out as his thought processes left him along with his breath. The elf who’d run into him had also sat up, snow falling from her figure as she did so, glittering like diamonds on her red outfit. Wide amber eyes looked at him in surprise, blinking several times as if she thought he might disappear. Her cheeks were even pinker than her full lips, which were open in a small ‘O.’

“Ohhh, look at you,” the Doctor breathed. “You are _beautiful,_ you are!”


	2. A Learning Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor makes fast friends with Rose the elf and they begin learning about each other's worlds.

The elf blinked again, a becoming smile blossoming on her lips. “I beg your pardon?”

The Doctor scrambled up out of the doctor-sized hole he’d created in the snow and bent down to offer his hands to help her up. “Here, that’s got to be cold for you,” he said, lifting his eyebrows a little to hopefully look less threatening.

She took his hands without hesitation and stood up with his aid. “It wasn’t cold for you?” she asked. She brushed snow from her person, feeling a little self-conscious because he hadn’t moved away, he was still standing very close to her, still staring as if fascinated.

“Oh, I’m used to it.” He completely missed her confused expression because he found himself enamoured of her hair. Reaching out with one hand, he fingered a lock of it, surprising her. “That’s amazing! Your hair is the _exact_ shade of moonlight on a young Cucurbita maxima pumpkin!”

She forgot to be embarrassed by his proximity and compliments as she pondered his statement. “A what?”

His dark eyes flickered to hers and he dropped his hand, becoming aware of how he was invading her space. “It’s a type of squash,” he explained, taking a small step back.

Her expression cleared. “Oh,” she said in understanding, then smiled again. “I’ve never met anyone so knowledgeable about vegetables before.”

He preened a bit, moving his shoulders back to puff out his chest. “Welllll,” he said, tilting his head and pulling at his left ear. _“Certain_ vegetables.” He grinned at her musical little giggle and held out his hand to her once more. “I mentioned this earlier, but we were both in a snow-hole at the time, maybe you missed it. I’m the Doctor. What’s your name?”

“Rose,” she said, shaking his hand. “That’s another sort of plant, if you don’t know what those are…”

He nodded. “I’ve seen roses where I come from, but they’re all black. I’ve never met a rose who’s so… pink and yellow,” he said as he looked her up and down, then his head shot up in sudden realization. “Do yours come in more colors? Like everything here?” He waved an arm to encompass their surroundings.

“Well, yes,” she said. “You really are new to Christmastown, aren’t you?”

“Only my second visit, to tell the truth, I’m woefully lost.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I could really use a guide, or maybe just a new friend to show me around… If they aren’t busy, that is. It should be someone who isn’t bothered by my… unusual appearance, perhaps someone who doesn’t get frightened when they meet someone strange poking around at the backs of houses.” He looked at her with wide eyes, his lower lip jutting out just the littlest bit.

She smiled and he could have sworn he felt warmth coming from it. “Help me pick up my shopping and you’ve got yourself a new friend.”

\---

Once the various items had been stuffed back into the shopping bag, Rose took the Doctor’s hand and led him over to the greenhouses, around the back of the workshop. Here, elves cultivated different species of plant in separate sections to provide optimal growing conditions. There were not only plants for harvesting and eating, but every sort of useful plant, from the spiny aloe and prickly nettle, to cinnamon, mint, anise, and other herbs and spices, to lovely roses, lavender, and chamomile.

“Brilliant!” exclaimed the Doctor, though he was trying hard to keep his voice down. Rose had proved rather good at following his sneaking techniques, seeing merit in his logic of not frightening other locals. “So many growing things! So full of life and color!”

She leaned closer. “Do you know, I’ve heard that there are places where plants just grow all by themselves? Without having to be in a greenhouse.”

“You’ve never seen such a thing?”

She shook her head and gestured at the snow around the garden structures. “Nothing but the trees are hardy enough to grow through the snow here.”

“We have naturally growing plants where I live,” he said. “Nightshade and ragwort and poison ivy, to name a few, but nothing as pretty or fragrant as what you have.” He narrowed his eyes at a flowering rose bush and reached into the inside pocket of his coat, retrieving a set of square-rimmed spectacles and setting them on his nose. “Hmm,” he mulled, leaning down to look at the delicate petals of yellow tipped with pink, then looking to Rose beside him. “Nope,” he said, sniffing as he straightened back up. “You are definitely _much_ more beautiful.”

He grinned when she laughed, feeling proud of himself. The sound of her laughter made him feel light.

“What’s it called, the place you come from?” she asked as they at last left the greenhouses and she led him around the outskirts of the regular houses.

“Halloweentown,” he answered, “it’s named after an annual holiday--”

“Called Halloween, right?”

He looked at her, mildly impressed. “That’s right! How did you--”

“I made a guess based on the name of Christmastown.” She pursed her lips. “Not too terribly original, now that I think about it.”

“But it definitely gets the idea across fairly easily.” He paused. “So you celebrate… Christmas, yes? I’ve read a bit about it, but I’d like to know more about your holiday, straight from the horse’s mouth as it were - not that you’re a horse!” he hastily added, then rubbed his neck in slight embarrassment over his ramblings. “If that’s… I dunno… allowed?”

“Sure! It’s not like you have to live here in order to learn about it,” she said, delighted to be able to share her love of Christmas with him. “You could tell me about your holiday, too. How about we go to my house to warm up? That way, we don’t have to sneak for a while and I can drop off my shopping.” She indicated the bag she still carried and he looked at it as if remembering its existence.

His shoulders slumped. “I should have offered to carry that, shouldn’t I?” he said, wincing apologetically. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. Never want to be rude to someone you’ve only just met, they might get the wrong idea.”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t that…” She trailed off, looking at his big sad eyes. With a tiny smirk, she held the bag out, dangling it from the tips of her fingers. “Well, we still have a little ways to go,” she said, indulging him. “You _could_ redeem yourself.”

His expression brightened at once and he took the bag with exaggerated care, situating it in the crook of one arm, before he offered his hand to her, wiggling the fingers just so. Grinning, she laced their hands together and tugged him after her at a run. Their laughter couldn’t be quelled by their own hasty shushes, giggles kept bubbling up and trickling out of them as they ran.

\---

The first thing Rose did when they reached her little red trimmed house was to pick a large plum with a dusting of sugar out of her shopping bag. The Doctor watched, perplexed, as she removed the doorknob from the front door of her house with a deft twist and pull, tossing it in the snow behind her, then fitted the sugarplum where the doorknob had been. His jaw dropped when he saw a glimmering miasma of sparkles surround the plum and a moment later, it had hardened into a brand new doorknob.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he said, touching her arm to stop her when she would have opened the door. “What just happened there?”

“Oh,” said Rose, looking at the knob and then back to him, remembering anew that things were likely different in his world. “It’s part of the magic of Christmastown. Practically everything here is eatable.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re having me on.”

“No! I swear!” she giggled. “My old doorknob had dented and needed to be replaced. Once you attach the food to something, it assumes its new purpose magically. Otherwise, it remains edible.”

“So… if you were to remove something, it becomes food again?” he asked, working it through.

“Yes, exactly. Try it out, if you like.”

“Ooh!”

He cast around excitedly, looking for something that appeared more delicious than the rest. Bending down, he scooped up a handful of snow and tried a mouthful, expecting it to be as sweet as the sugar it resembled, but it was just as cold and wet as it had made his clothes. He made a face and blew a raspberry with his tongue, making Rose laugh.

“Edible, maybe, but not particularly memorable,” he declared.

“Well, we don’t really eat that,” she said. She looked around then up and smiled. “Give me a boost, will you?” she asked, pointing at her roof.

Curious, the Doctor obliged, stooping slightly to wrap his arms around her waist, he lifted her up.

The relentless tick of his internal clock, which had been running so steadily for so long he hardly noticed it anymore, slowed to a crawl with Rose in his arms. One of her hands steadied herself on his shoulder as she reached over her head with the other. His face was pressed against her stomach, covered in the softest wool he’d ever felt. Heat from her body seeped into him and his poor neglected heart shivered, a sensation that made him feel as though he’d been punched in the gut.

Suddenly, she was patting his shoulder and he was putting her back on her feet and he felt like he could breathe again, despite his lack of needing to. However, the air was no longer scented like evergreen and vanilla and he found himself disappointed. After a moment’s reflection, he surmised it was _Rose_ who had smelled so good, that it was her scent he instantly missed. His cheeks felt suspiciously warm, a phenomenon that hadn’t happened in a _very_ long time.

“Here, try this,” she said.

She held out a broken piece of her roof to him with a smile, the color a warm brown with a white trim, but as he watched, the sparkles reappeared and the trim became a thick frosting over a large biscuit.

With a hint of trepidation, the Doctor took the confection from her and took a small bite. Both eyebrows lifted high on his forehead a moment later and he took a larger bite. “Mmm!” he exclaimed, being unable to comment with his mouth full.

Rose’s smile widened. “It’s called gingerbread.”

“I’ve read about that!” he said, after swallowing. “I hadn’t thought it would be so spicy!” He laughed at the biscuit in his hand, delighted. “And this was really a part of your roof a moment ago! That’s marvelous! Your bakers and cooks aren’t just ensuring you eat, they’re also builders and contractors, is that right?”

“Yep, pretty much!”

“Ohhh,” he groaned, his shoulders sagging a bit as he gazed wistfully up at her roof. “We don’t have _anything_ like this! I really must remember this for later. We already specialize in candy, I don’t see why we couldn’t engineer the same principle…”

“Doctor?”

“Hmm?” He looked down. While he’d been in the midst of his reverie, Rose had gone ahead and opened the door to her home and was standing just over the threshold. Waiting. Expectantly. “Oh!”

Amused, Rose touched the tip of her tongue to her teeth and leaned back out, hooked a finger in the join of his jacket over the top button, and pulled. Obediently, he trotted in, trying not to act embarrassed.

“Sorry my mind wandered off,” he said as she closed the door after them. “But I haven’t felt this inspired in such a long time, the ideas just keep coming to me.”

“Really?” she asked as she removed her belled cap and stuck it on a hat rack near the door. “Ideas for what? Oh, mind the air.”

“What?” Discreetly, he sniffed down at himself thinking she meant he’d fouled the air around them, but all he could smell was the cool, refreshing scent of lichen and fresh earth.

“Mind the air,” she said, a touch louder, as if he hadn’t heard her the first time. She pressed a button on the wall next to the hat rack and a _whoosh_ of warm air suffused the both of them from above.

For him, it was like being suddenly engulfed in molten lava from head to foot, seeping through the Doctor’s clothes and flesh and straight down to the bone, melting any remaining snow on their persons and at the same time drying the wetness. But it was only a moment, a flash, and the air was gone and he was not on fire. Actually, the whole house was very… _yes._ COZY. Without even trying, it seemed.

Rose fluffed her hair a bit and gave a contented little sigh. She moved through the sitting area to the kitchen and grabbed a kettle from the sink. “Tea or hot chocolate?”

“Ooh, chocolate’s brilliant!” he said as he followed her.

He went slowly, taking in the combined room. A tree about a foot taller than him sat at foot of a stairway opposite a fireplace, with a large overstuffed couch in-between, patterned with holly and ivy and bordered in blue. The windows had lacy curtains strung with white fairy lights while the tree boasted colored bulbs alongside lots of unique handmade baubles. The mantle above the fireplace boasted fresh evergreen boughs and sprigs of holly. A red ribbon wound its way up the bannister to the second floor. The sitting room connected directly to an open kitchen with a bar and counter to separate the rooms. The Doctor perched on one of the bar stools, leaning forward on his elbows, to watch her prepare cream on her stove and melt dark chocolate into it.

“So, ideas for what?” she asked him again as she shaved hazelnuts over the chocolate with a metal grater.

He looked at her blankly before recalling her question prior to the air. “Oh! Yes! Well…” His gaze wandered up to the ceiling as he pursed his lips slightly, considering how he wanted to answer her question, wondering if she would treat him differently. He didn’t want to lie to her. He pulled on his left ear, crinkling his nose. “I’m sort of… the reigning Pumpkin King back home… That’s… sort of like… your Santa Claus.”

The spoon Rose was holding clattered to the stovetop. When he chanced a look back down, her eyes were wide.

“Are you serious?” she asked.

He held up his hands. “I said ‘sort of!’”

“But surely your town needs you,” she said, seeming to recover herself slightly, even if unsure of what to think.

He sighed and looked down at the bar’s shiny surface. “I used to think so… Now? I’m not so sure. I used to have hundreds of ideas every season. Over time, it just…” He gestured with one hand. “It doesn’t challenge me anymore. But this…” He looked around them, indicating her house and the whole of Christmastown in general. “There’s not a thing you could name that I do not want to know more about. The concept of it is so elusive to grasp! You give things away without the expectation of getting anything back, but you will be rewarded if you are ‘good.’ That alone raises so many questions!”

She smiled as she poured the steaming concoction into two mugs and added some tiny marshmallows. “Ask some.”

“Okay,” he said, warming to the idea. “First, the concept of ‘good.’ Who decides that? Naughty or nice? Santa, yes? Well, how does he know? From whence came this ‘list’ of his? Has anyone ever really _seen_ this list?”

After setting the mugs on the bar in front of him, she came around to have a seat on the stool next to his. “Yes, the elves who work in the workshop have all seen the list. The names are printed on a magical ream of paper and it updates itself as needed.” She frowned slightly. “I’ve never thought about where the names might go once the list is updated before. Huh.” She shrugged and wrapped her hands around her mug of chocolate. “And as for Santa, well, it’s instinctual. Comes with the job. Do you get any sort of perks for being king?”

He followed her example and held his mug in both hands. The warmth the drink afforded to his fingers felt marvelous. “Well, there are responsibilities, like having hearings for new ideas to be considered, handling disputes between different factions--”

“Different factions?”

“Sure,” he said, nodding. “I’m sure you have similar problems. You’ve got your baking elves and your woodchopping elves and your toy making elves, et cetera. We’ve got werewolves, black cats, and swamp people, and those are just three that don’t tend to get along.”

She mirrored his nod. “The bakers do tend to frown at the reindeer crew,” she admitted. “You just never know what those fellows are gonna track in on their shoes. But I mean special perks, like Santa knowing who’s naughty and nice.”

“And don’t even get me started on seeing you when you’re sleeping…”

She almost spat out the hot chocolate she was sipping. “Doctor!” she admonished, wiping at her chin.

He grinned, chuckling, and lifted his mug to try his own beverage. The warm, rich chocolate spread slowly over his tongue, flavored with a hint of hazelnut. It coated the back of his throat for an instant as he swallowed. His eyes drifted shut on a deep, indulgent moan as the warmth followed all the way down.

Rose grinned, putting her question on hold while she watched the Doctor enjoy another deep sip. “Good?” she asked.

“Mm-hmm,” he intoned, the sound echoing inside the mug. He didn’t lower it until he’d slurped the last of the drink and followed it with a long sigh. “That might have possibly ruined me for all other forms of chocolate,” he said, definitively.

She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear, tucking her chin a little. “I’m glad you like it. Took me a long time to perfect the recipe.” Tilting her head, she frowned slightly. “Are you… leaking?”

The Doctor looked down and moved his tie. He blinked in surprise at the spreading watery stain on his shirt and lifted his eyebrows. “It appears as if I am. That’s new. I’ll have to get this old stomach replaced when I go back home. I wonder how long it’s been since I last had anything to drink...”

“Old stomach?” she repeated in perplexed amazement.

“Yep,” he said. “I’m sort of made up of a bunch of spare parts. When something stops working or malfunctions, I get a new one. Usually, my body works better than the original. I’ve even got two hearts!” He grinned proudly over his manufactured biology.

“And you don’t need to eat or drink?” she asked.

“I don’t _need_ to, no. But I wouldn’t really call that a perk, not when there are things like _this_ in the world,” he said, holding up his mug and peering inside it, as if he hoped there would magically be more.

“Well, alright,” she conceded, “but you won’t die from not eating.”

He shrugged. “I’m already dead. I can’t die again.” He appeared thoughtful. “Or else I just haven’t found out if I can yet, I suppose that’s also a possibility, however unlikely.”

“I’d call that a kind of perk,” she said. “It’s what you do with it, I suppose.”

He looked at her, impressed. “What you do with it. What a wise thing to say, for someone who looks so young.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “I’m older than I look.”

He matched the eyebrow, as if answering a challenge. “So am I.”

They did the math and it turned out that Rose was nearly five hundred years older than the Doctor. He let out a low whistle, amazed. “That is one hell of an age gap.”

She smacked him in the arm with the back of her hand. “Shut up, you’re no spring chicken yourself.” She pushed her barely touched mug forward to him. “Here, you’ve been eyeing it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I can always make more.”

Eagerly, he accepted the mug and proceeded to drink her cooled chocolate, completely ignoring the growing stain on his shirt. “Back to my questions,” he said when he was done drinking. “Do you give things because you _want_ to give things, or do you give things hoping you’ll be seen as ‘nice’ so you can be rewarded for giving the things? Because it seems to me that you’d definitely _want_ the reward if it was there, but does it taint the intent?”

“Well, I think we can agree that we all like receiving things,” she said. “It’s fun and it can mean a lot to know that someone was thinking of you and brought you something. But honestly, I enjoy giving people presents. I love seeing the person’s face light up, I love knowing that I brought them happiness. I will appreciate any gift I’m given, of course, but not getting something wouldn’t take away my joy from giving.”

“Hmm,” he said, thoughtfully. “So, it’s like… you don’t have to get scared _every_ Halloween, even though that would be nice. As long as you were able to scare as many people as you wanted, it’s a good year.”

“You scare people?” she asked, surprised.

“Oh yes,” he said, happy to share about his life since she was being so accommodating with hers. “It’s one of the best things about it! That, and the candy, of course.”

“Why would people give you candy for scaring them? A reward for being naughty?”

“Naughty? How is it naughty?”

“Well, scaring someone isn’t very nice.”

He smiled knowingly. “What if you enjoyed being scared?”

A tiny line formed between her brows as she pondered that concept. “Then… I suppose… it wouldn’t be naughty,” she concluded, but didn’t appear certain. “I don’t really get how that would work.”

He waggled his eyebrows, his expression turning mischievous. “Close your eyes and I’ll show you.”

She tilted her head, looking at him suspiciously. His smile simply deepened at the corners, coaxing a dimple into his cheek.

“Come on,” he all but purred, holding out his hands for hers. “Don’t you trust me?”


	3. Wonderland of Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor shows Rose what it’s like to have a ‘good’ scare and Rose introduces the Doctor to some Christmas fun and games.

Rose looked at him with one eyebrow quirked, the corner of her mouth twitching up, as if deciding whether or not she could trust him. But she put her hands in his a moment later, then gently closed her eyes. The Doctor hopped off the barstool and placed her hands deliberately on the edge of the counter, giving her something to hold on to. To make sure she wasn’t cheating, he waved a hand before her face, grinning widely when she gave no signal that she was peeking. Silently, he crept around behind her.

He leaned in very close, but was careful not to touch her in any way. He breathed in and out next to her ear, stirring her hair with the faintest of breezes, and she shivered, tightening her grip on the counter’s edge.

“I’m going to frighten you, Rose,” he whispered, silently drifting around to murmur into her other ear, “and you don’t know what I’m going to do. You don’t know  _ when  _ I’ll do it. But it  _ is _ going to happen…”

He straightened, again making no noise, giving her no clue as to what he was about. He noted her tense posture, how every one of her muscles seemed to have gone tight as a bowstring. Her hands were clutching the counter so hard, her knuckles were turning white. She was on high alert which was perfect, that had been the exact point of his whispers. She’d had to quiet herself to hear him and the anticipation of the coming scare had her pulse racing, he could hear it, her single heart thudding away at a fast clip. He waited just that one extra second more, that one tiny moment where she should be thinking ‘why is nothing happening,’ lulling her into a false sense of security, and then--

“Tickle tickle tickle!” he shrieked as he leaned in, pressing his front to her back as both hands swooped in beneath her arms to tickle her ribs.

Rose screeched in alarm then squealed with laughter as she squirmed, trying to get free of his dancing fingers. But he seemed to be surrounding her from all sides, trapped as she was against the counter and perched on the barstool, she had no way of getting free.

“Mercy!” she cried at last, barely able to blurt out the word between breathless gasps for air.

He granted her wish and stepped back at last, his hands lingering near her sides in case she felt a bit dizzy. Once Rose had caught her breath, he sat back down beside her, his smile mirroring hers.

“See?” he said. “Was that scary?”

“Yes!” The word burst from her on a leftover giggle.

“But did you like it?”

She took one last big breath and let it out on a nod. Her cheeks were rosy from the tickle-scare, but as he watched, they deepened a shade darker. “Oh, yes. I’d say that is a definite perk.”

The sparkle in her eyes sent lightning bugs winging around his stomach, or at least that’s what it felt like. Or it could have been more hot chocolate leaking out of him. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, forcing his brain to concentrate on their conversation and not on Rose’s lovely hazel eyes. “There you go. Life’s no fun without a good scare.”

“I suppose I have to agree,” she said. “I like Halloween! It’s… thrilling! Like riding a flying reindeer for the first time. A little bit dangerous, but fun at the same time.”

“So the reindeer really do fly?”

Still smiling, she climbed down from her stool and went back around the counter. “Let me make some more hot chocolate and I’ll explain all about Santa’s reindeer and how he delivers presents all in one night.”

He sighed. “Oh, good. Because that’s been keeping me awake at bedtime. I mean, the logistics involved! He’d have to deliver presents to at least three houses at once just to make it before sunrise!”

Rose lifted her eyebrows knowingly as she turned back to the stove and the Doctor listened in rapt attention as she talked about the belief of people around the world and how it pertained to the magic of Santa. He had to admit that Santa seemed to be quite a powerful force, that his magic extended so far and wide. Even the Doctor was a bit intimidated by the end of Rose’s explanation and it only solidified his desire to keep his visit to Christmastown just between him and Rose. What if Santa decided he didn’t like the Doctor  _ or _ his holiday and magicked him off the face of the earth? It didn’t bear thinking about.

“Going back to the presents,” he said, after finishing off his third cup of hot chocolate. “I know that it isn’t just Santa who provides the gifts, you also give them to each other.” She nodded and he went on, “But how do you decide who to give a present to? Seems like a lot of work to find something for everyone.”

“It is, but that’s Santa’s job,” she said. “Personal gift giving is voluntary and just done among friends and family. After all, if you don’t know someone, it’s pretty hard to give them a gift. You wouldn’t know what they like! And it doesn’t mean as much. But when you give a present to someone and you know it’s something they really want, or have wanted for a long time, it just makes you feel all good inside!”

He furrowed his brow. “How does one feel ‘good inside’?”

She pursed her lips and blinked a few times, unsure how to answer. “Well… you kind of feel… nice and warm.”

“I don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, I understand heat and cold, I may be dead, but I know that a fire is hot and so on, but how does feeling hot inside equate feeling good?”

He appeared to have flummoxed her. “I’m… not really sure how to explain,” she said, scratching the side of her head briefly. Her gaze drifted down to the countertop where one of his hands was resting next to his empty mug and her expression brightened with inspiration. “It’s kind of like this…”

She took his hand in both of hers and brought the backs of his fingers to her lips. The ever present chill in his skin was chased away as she breathed warmly against it. The Doctor’s eyes widened as the petal-soft feel of her lips on his hand really did make his insides feel as if they were warming up along with his fingers. About a million lightning bugs were flying around his stomach again. Not even his wet shirt could make him feel cold, not with Rose’s lips touching him. Instantly, he wondered if the effect would be even stronger if those lips were touching… other…  _ better _ … places. The warmth seeped into his face then and he found himself marvelling at Rose’s own personal magic.

“O-oh…” he finally managed to say, his voice cracking slightly on the syllable. He cleared his throat before trying again. “I see.” He wasn’t sure that he truly  _ did  _ see, but he felt too confused at the moment to try and decipher all the signals his brain was sending him.

Rose smiled, though, so he must have said the right thing. “You know, there are other things I could show you. Things we do here in Christmastown that spread cheer and make you feel good. Interested?”

“Oh, yes!”

Still holding his hand, Rose tugged him off the stool and toward the door.

\---

Even though Rose had driven them way out into the vast expanse of snow beyond Santa’s valley, the Doctor was certain his jubilant whoops of joy could be heard clear back to the workshop as Rose’s snowmobile zoomed over endless white-covered hills. Neither one of them cared. She drove faster and faster just to hear the Doctor laugh and screech and then laugh some more, his arms tight around her waist. 

It was all in good fun until Rose cornered too fast and suddenly the Doctor was flying off the back of the seat. “Doctor!” she cried, banking the snowmobile and turning around. She jumped off and ran back, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. “Are you alright? Say something so I can find you!”

Two arms poked up out of a snowdrift, his fists clenched in triumph. “That was the  _ best! _ Can we do it again?”

She smiled when his face appeared next, his dark eyes sparkling as much as the white powder all over him. “We can, but seeing as you’re now covered in snow, maybe I can show you something else first.”

So saying, Rose flung herself backward, landing in the snow with her arms and legs all spread out. The Doctor watched as she moved her limbs up and down, in and out, curious as to what sort of Christmas magic his little elf was up to now.

He shook his head, dislodging some snow from his hair. Wait a tick.  _ His  _ elf? Since when had he started thinking of her as  _ his? _ That wasn’t… well, they weren’t… Hmm. He was glad she was busy so she couldn’t see his bewildered expression.

When she carefully stood back up, she was just as covered with snow as he was and she smiled down at her creation. “See,” she said, gesturing at the shape in the snow. “It’s a snow angel. My legs made the bottom of the gown and my arms made the wings. It’s a fun way of making something pretty if you fall down in the snow!”

“Christmas makes everything better!” he declared. “Even falling down!”

She giggled as he let himself fall back into the snowdrift, his long legs pushing out the snow, his gangly arms moving in great sweeps. When he’d finished, Rose offered him a hand to pull him up without ruining the angel. 

“How did I do?” he asked, nervously lifting his eyebrows.

She walked around it and made some thoughtful noises, as if taking the judgement of his angel very seriously. “I think…” she said slowly, “this may be the best snow angel ever.” His face lit up and she couldn’t help adding, “You know… for an  _ amateur.” _

His expression was priceless. “Well-- I-- you just--” he sputtered. When she burst into laughter, he put his hands on his hips and said quite sternly, “This isn’t something I say often or lightly, my dear Rose, but… tuh!”

“Oh, lighten up!” she said, picking up a handful of snow and packing it quickly. Before the Doctor knew it, she’d thrown the ball right at his chest.

“Oi!” he said, indignantly, though it hadn’t hurt. 

“Snowball fight!” Rose cried jubilantly, grabbing up some more snow and throwing it at him. This ball hit him in the shoulder and exploded in a spray of ice crystals.

“Oh, now you’re in for it!” he said. He might be new to Christmas, but the Doctor never backed down from a challenge. And he may never have been in a snowball fight before, but the concept spelled itself out for him fairly instantaneously. He grabbed some snow of his own and packed it as tightly as he could. By the time he deemed the projectile flight-worthy, Rose had thrown another snowball at him, striking his arm.

Seeing his intent to join in, she squealed and turned tail. “Not in the face!” she called out right before she ran like mad through the snow, her bright laughter chiming back to him. 

Accepting the rule, the Doctor calculated the trajectory versus the mass of the snowball and the slight breeze, then let the missile fly. Rose shrieked as it hit her square in the middle of her back, then laughed.

“Not bad!” she said, ducking behind a tree and tossing another snowball around the side.

He’d learned by then to stay a moving target and followed her example by likewise darting behind a tree. Rose’s snowball missed and he laughed broadly, feeling like a winner already, though he wasn’t entirely sure how one was supposed to win at a snowball fight. “For an  _ amateur,  _ you mean?” he asked pointedly, peeking around the trunk and then ducking back as another snowball whizzed past his nose.

“Well, I  _ could  _ slow down to give you a fighting chance,” she teased.

“I’ll show  _ you  _ ‘slowing down’! Ha! Take that!”

They kept up the game until the Doctor could make snowballs almost as fast as Rose could and she marveled over his aim. He said it was simple mathematics, but preened nonetheless. He was really something of a natural at this Christmas stuff!

They quit once they were quite soaked through from melted snow. Once they were back on the snowmobile, he noted that Rose was shivering. He had to count it as another perk that the cold didn’t really bother him. He held her a little bit closer as they drove back to the house, though he didn’t know why, he was just as cold and wet as she was. Still… he found it nearly impossible to let go. Turning his face into her hair, the scent of evergreen teased his olfactory senses.

This time, the hot air inside Rose’s doorway wasn’t quite strong enough to dry out their clothes, so she provided him with something to wear and allowed him to change in her washroom while she popped the wet clothing in a special drying machine. He was grateful, even if the garment left him a bit perplexed.

Holding the one-piece red and white jumpsuit up, it appeared to be far too small, but once he began tugging it on, it stretched to fit the wearer. Quite clever, really. And the material was so soft and snuggly warm, the Doctor thought he might almost prefer it to his usual pinstripes, if he weren’t positive that he looked absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps if it came in a basic black or a nice sensible charcoal… but that was an idea for Halloweentown.

As he emerged from the washroom, pensive thoughts dragged his buoyant mood down. He wondered if anyone in town was looking for him and if K-9 was still waiting by the odd circle of trees. It seemed likely, but how long would they wait to elect a new Pumpkin King if he didn’t return soon? He didn’t want to let down his town, but at the same time… he felt such a pull to remain here in Christmastown. And he wasn’t naive enough to believe that it was just the holiday and the newness of everything around him that made him want to stay.

His eyes lifted as Rose came down the stairs, dressed in a similar jumpsuit, except hers was blue and spangled with snowflakes. His two hearts thudded out of sync as she smiled at him. Yes, he knew  _ exactly  _ why his itchy feet had suddenly decided to put down roots.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, furrowing her brow slightly.

He couldn’t help a tiny smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth. She was so perceptive. “I was just thinking… I should probably go back soon. Halloweentowners are prone to panic. Probably because it almost feels like being scared.”

“Oh.” She chewed on her cuticle and her gaze slipped to the floor. “Of course. I guess I’d forgotten about that.” 

“Yeah. Me too.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Standing there in that silly candy-striped suit, the Doctor had never felt so awkward. He didn’t even have any pockets to shove his hands into, so they dangled at his sides like useless slabs of meat. There were so many things he wanted to say and ask, but they all jumbled together in his brain and wouldn’t come out in an orderly fashion. At last, Rose gave a little sigh. 

“Well, your clothes should be ready in a few minutes--”

“You know,” he said, suddenly, cutting off the end of her sentence, “you…  _ could  _ come with me. If you want.”

She blinked up at him. “Really?” she asked, as if he would joke about it.

“Yeah. Unless… you don’t want to--”

“No, I mean,  _ yes, _ I do! Want to, that is! I just thought… it might be rude to ask--”

“Oh, no, I’d love you to come!” he assured her with a smile.

“Okay!” she said, returning it with a nervous little laugh. “If you’re sure no one will mind…”

“Don’t worry.” He puffed out his chest, but the effect wasn’t as grand without his pinstripes and coat. “If you’re with me, no one will even dare to say ‘boo!’” He paused and pulled on his ear. “Welllllll, actually, they might. ‘Boo’ is actually said quite often in Halloweentown. But you don’t have to worry about them kicking you out, I promise. In fact, they’ll probably be even more fascinated than I am by Christmas!”

Inspiration animated her features and she bounced forward, taking his hands in hers. “Tell you what, let’s take a bunch of things with us. We can show your whole town what Christmas is all about!”

The fireflies in his stomach were back in force as he started to picture everyone’s reaction to the wonder of Christmas. “Oh, Rose,” he said, his voice low and reverent, “you’re  _ brilliant, _ you are!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience, guys! Writing Star Force with WorryinglyInnocent has taken up a lot of my time. I'm not complaining, it's a lot of fun! But it does mean my updates for my WIPs are coming slower. I appreciate all of the comments asking for an update for this story, it meant a lot to me! I will try to finish this one up in the coming week, I think it'll just be one more chapter.


	4. Halloweentown's First Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and the Doctor venture to Halloweentown and end up giving the citizens a Christmas they will never forget!

The Doctor got nervous on the trip out to the circle of trees. He and Rose had accumulated a surprising amount of Christmas things to take with them, which they’d stuffed in one of Santa’s spare sacks and strapped to a sledge attached to the snowmobile. It hadn’t occurred to him at the time how they were going to fit everything through the doorway to Halloweentown. It wasn’t until they were nearly there that he remembered the size of the door.

But it turned out he needn’t have worried. The moment the door carved with a jack o’lantern opened, the mouth of the door seemed to expand and suck them inside, snowmobile and all.

A gusty wind, scented with pumpkin and spices, surrounded them, carrying with it a flurry of autumn leaves in red and gold and brown. Rose laughed as they soared down and the Doctor grinned, holding her tighter around the waist. Of course she would react with joy when he’d reacted with fear initially. That was Rose, through and through - pure joy.

They landed with a heavy thunk on the bare hill the copse of trees rested on and the Doctor smiled to see the familiar black trees with their spindly arms reaching for the cold gray sky.

“Master!” cried K-9, his metal frame vibrating with happiness as he rolled around from where he’d been sitting near the tree with the Christmas door.

“K-9!” said the Doctor as he hopped off the back of the snowmobile. “You good dog! You waited for me!”

“Affirmative!”

Grinning, he looked over his shoulder at Rose and gestured for her to come closer. “I’d like you to meet someone, Rose.” He rested one hand on the dog’s back, resulting in an answering wiggle of his springy tail. “This is my dog, K-9. He’s made of spare parts, just like me!”

She smiled as she crouched before the dog. “Then I’m sure we’ll be great friends in no time.”

The Doctor couldn’t agree more. “Listen, boy,” he said to K-9, “I want you to utilize your hover engines and go on ahead into town. Let the mayor know I’ve returned and I want him to call a town meeting. We’ve got a lot to show everyone!”

With a hiss of hydraulics, the bottom of K-9’s body began to glow with an eerie blue right before he rose up into the air. He shot off like a rocket into the sky, rising above the treeline, then zoomed off into the distance.

“What a dog!” exclaimed Rose before climbing back onto the snowmobile. “Did you build him yourself?”

“I did,” said the Doctor, puffing his chest out a bit. 

“I’d love to see his design specs sometime,” she said. “If that’s alright. I think he’d make a fantastic toy, if scaled down and altered a bit.”

“Of course! I’d love to share my work with you! Provided I get to see the prototype.” He bounced on his toes a bit, thinking of the possibilities. “How novel! My own K-9 action figure!” They shared a laugh as he took a step forward, intending to get on the snowmobile as well, but he stopped when Rose scooted back, away from the handles.

When he looked at her, askance, she patted the seat in front of her. “I don’t know where we’re going,” she explained. “I think it’s time you drove.”

The Doctor’s excited smile earned him a giggle from the delighted elf as he scrambled up onto the seat and grabbed the handles. He pretended his hearts were speeding up because of the anticipation of driving the snowmobile, not because of Rose pressed up against him, her arms around his waist.

\---

They drove right into the center of town, until the onlookers had gathered too thickly for the snowmobile to pass through. The citizens crowded both Rose and the Doctor, oohing and ahhing over the vehicle and Rose herself, asking questions about the large sack they were towing and of the Doctor, about where he’d gone.

Rose was all smiles after her initial surprise at seeing the strange and sometimes bizarre appearances of the locals. The Doctor had done his best to prepare her for how different from elves his people were, and Rose accepted everyone just as beautifully as she had the Doctor when he’d first crashed into her. She patiently allowed the people to admire her red fur-trimmed garment, her striped socks, to touch the bell at the end of her cap, shocking them with the sweet tone it rang with, and to marvel over her pink cheeks and yellow hair. 

A small, round child tugged on the Doctor’s coat (once he’d stopped clinging to the Doctor’s leg, that is) and he squatted down to get closer to his level. The boy whispered in his ear and pointed a stubby finger at Rose. The Doctor laughed, patting the boy on the back.

“Yes!” he exclaimed happily. “Cucurbita maxima! That’s  _ just  _ what I said!”

\---

The denizens of Halloweentown were on the edge of their seats at the town meeting as Rose and the Doctor took the stage and began unloading the sack. Everyone stared, wide-eyed, as the two of them decorated a small tree right in front of them, but as Rose started introducing new objects, questions began to spring up that she wasn’t prepared for. 

They didn’t seem to understand that the point of a present was to  _ not  _ be aware of what was inside, but she did say that guessing the contents was half the fun. She was derailed for a minute or so as they began to shout out guesses of bats and rats, severed heads and poxes, but got their attention anew as she demonstrated a nutcracker and passed it around with a bowl of nuts for everyone to sample. The little wooden soldier’s strong teeth were complimented over and over as it was passed from person to person.

She lost them again when she showed them how to hang stockings with care, most of them wanted to know if there were still feet inside. When she told them the socks would contain candy and small toys that led to speculation over the types of toys that would be little enough to fit inside.

Rose looked at the Doctor helplessly. It was obvious that everyone was excited by these new concepts, but she could tell she wasn’t really getting through to them. He reached out and gave her arm a little squeeze.

“Don’t worry,” he said in a voice pitched for her ears alone. “Let me try. I’ll… see if I can put it into terms they understand.”

She nodded and took a step back. The Doctor swept over to center stage, calling on his commanding Pumpkin King presence that he normally reserved for Halloween night. He held up his hands, silently calling for quiet. The clamor of the citizens died almost instantly as every eye rested on the Doctor.

“Listen, all of you,” he said, letting his voice ring to the back of the hall. “I know what you’re all thinking. That these things are all so peculiar, how can this thing called Christmas really exist? When I stumbled upon Christmastown, I couldn’t believe the things I saw either. All around me were things that tantalized my brain and begged to be understood, it was even more than what you see here, a world unlike anything I’d ever seen in my long unlife.” He paused and leaned forward, dropping his voice to a harsh whisper, making everyone listen even harder. “But I assure you… it  _ is  _ real. All that we’ve told you and more.” He straightened and waggled his eyebrows. “And we’ve saved the  _ best  _ for last.”

Turning, he moved around the tree in a sweeping dance, his coat tails flaring out behind him. Everyone watched in rapt attention as he spoke, including Rose, amazed at his theatrical presence, how he kept everyone enthralled so effortlessly.

“For you see,” he went on, “Christmastown has it’s own ruler. A fearsome king with a deep mighty voice and a laugh you wouldn’t soon forget - ‘HO HO HO!’” He bellowed out his own version of Santa’s trademark laughter and the first few rows of people shivered in delicious fear. “I’ve not seen him in person, but from what I understand, he’s quite a sight to behold, a huge bear of a man, dressed all in blood red! This sack we brought with us is nothing compared to the sacks this man lifts with his great big arms, carting them off on his flying sleigh, and delivering gifts only to those who are worthy. Oh yes, he flies! Eight terrifying beasts with deadly horns on their heads bear the sleigh aloft, flying through the fog and across the face of the moon like a great vulture!”

He paused at the edge of the stage, leaning out so far that it was a wonder he didn’t fall right off. The people held their collective breaths as they waited for him to continue. Playing the moment for all it was worth the Doctor finished, slowly and menacingly, “And… they call him… Santa…  _ Claws.” _ He curved his fingers, wiggling them at the sides of his face so there would be no doubt as to his meaning of the word.

The crowd oohed at the conclusion of his description and began chattering away to each other, but Rose remained quiet, biting her lip. No doubt this was easier for the people of Halloweentown to understand, but… 

“Doctor,” she said as he turned back to her. “I’m glad they’re excited, but I don’t think they’re really getting the true spirit of Christmas.”

The curtain behind him fell as he shrugged, muffling the sounds of overlapping conversations in the hall. “To be honest, they probably won’t get it,” he said. “Oh, but you did a wonderful job!” he added when her face fell. “Truly, you did. You saw how they all loved it, they probably just need to see it in action to get how it works, like I did.”

Her face brightened. “Well, then why don’t we have the very first Halloweentown Christmas? We can teach them to decorate and make gifts and cook treats… it’ll be fun!”

The Doctor’s eyes shone as he gazed at her with his mouth slightly parted. She flushed a bit, ducking her head and brushing a length of hair behind one ear. 

“You keep doing that,” she said.

“What?”

“Looking at me like… I don’t know, like I hang the stars or something.”

A slow smile spread across his face and he took her hands in his. “But Rose, don’t you see?” he asked. “You  _ do.” _

Her blush lingered, but her smile grew. “Oh, Doctor--”

“For me, you do.” He said it simply, a bare fact, that same look in his eyes.

She didn’t know what to say in return, so she tugged on his hands and backed up toward the stairs leading out. “Come on. Let’s give Halloweentown a Christmas it’ll never forget!”

\---

“Wreck the halls with bones and spiders!” sang the group of musicians. “Fa la la la la la la la la!” They stood at the center of chaos that was the middle of town, singing their ‘improved’ versions of Rose’s carols as the other Halloweentowners busily crafted gifts down long tables. 

The tables were strewn with all kinds of glue and glitter, ribbons and tools, and most importantly, scavenged items that could be transformed into the perfect Christmas gift. Rose sat at one end of a table, patiently demonstrating how to make a holiday wreath out of round ornaments or greenery while the Doctor sat at the other end, demonstrating the same craft, but with his own special touches. He’d chosen only silver balls for the wreath and a glittering black bow for the top. At the center, a spider was making her own magic with a web. He’d also done a wreath just out of black branches which he thought looked rather nice, a minimalist effect, and he made sure that the man-eating plant wreath came with a helpful warning label with feeding instructions.

The people loved cutting out pieces of paper to make their own personalized Christmas cards and Rose smiled at their heartfelt wishes of ‘Hope you have a terrifying Christmas!’ scrawled on the inside. She showed them how to make other toys, like dolls and toy animals, and encouraged them to be as creative as they liked, applauding the vampire doll and the undead ducky that could be pulled on a string. The jack-in-the-box turned out to be the crowd favorite, but by then, Rose wasn’t surprised.

Once everything had been wrapped and the tables cleared away, the whole of Halloweentown gathered near the fountain to exchange gifts. The Doctor sat next to Rose on the edge of the fountain and nudged her shoulder with his own.

“Not overwhelmed, are you?” he asked.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But I love it! I’m getting to see Christmas from an entirely different point of view! It may not be exactly what I celebrate at home, but I look at their faces and I realize… it doesn’t need to be the same. They’re getting the same delight from the holiday that I do, and that’s what really matters.”

He grinned at her, knowing the feeling. Suddenly, she barked a laugh and covered her face with a hand. His smile slipped as his brow furrowed slightly in concern. “What is it?”

She looked up at him, sheepishly. “I was so busy helping everyone else, I forgot to make a gift for you.”

Instantly, he felt heat rushing toward his face and knew his pale cheeks had to be bright red, because he realized he’d done the same thing. “Oh, I--” He looked down, pulling at his ear. “Me too, actually.”

She giggled, but her warm smile told him she wasn’t laughing at him. “Quite the pair, we are,” she said. “Getting so caught up in Christmas.”

He chuckled with her. “Yeah.”

She bit her lip, her expression turning thoughtful even though her blush lingered. “Well,” she said, slowly, “I may have an idea for a gift for you.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. “I could share another Christmas tradition with you.”

“Oh!” He was always delighted to learn more about Christmas. “Please do!”

She opened her mouth to speak, but then paused, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Do you… hear that?”

He listened, his eyebrows lowering. He  _ did  _ hear something, but it was too faint to distinguish what it might be. He got to his feet and held up an arm for attention. “Everyone, shh, shh,” he said, urgency growing along with his suspicions.

The crowd gave the Doctor their whole attention as they silenced their chatter and ceased the rustling of wrapping paper. With only the breeze blowing, the sound was more distinct.

“What is it?” asked the senior Mr Hyde. He glanced upward at his top hat, but the Junior and Third Mr Hyde merely shrugged their diminutive shoulders.

“Sounds like… breaking glass?” suggested Fish Gal.

“No, no, it’s too musical for that,” said one of the musicians.

The Doctor’s blood went colder. “No, not musical,” he said with fearful comprehension.  _ “Merry.” _

A whipcrack sliced through the air seconds before a sleigh pulled by eight horned beasts emerged from the cloudy gray sky, their harnesses filling the air with the music of dozens of sleigh bells. “HO HO HO!” boomed a resounding voice. 

“It’s Santa Claws!” screeched one of the vampires.

That was all it took to throw everyone into a panic. Screaming and clutching their presents protectively to their chests, the citizens scattered, bumping into one another in their mad scramble to get away from the fearsome king of Christmastown.

“HOLD YOUR GROUND!” called the Doctor in his most Pumpkin King-like voice. All activity stopped. His dark eyes were intense as he silently dared anyone to move with an arch of his left brow. Santa was circling overhead and his hearts were pounding, but if this was going to happen, the Doctor was going to meet him with his spine straight and his friends and neighbors would not cower either. “Everyone, to me,” he ordered. 

As they moved to stand in a large group behind him, the Doctor subtly placed himself in front of Rose, reaching one hand back to touch her arm reassuringly. He felt her fingers clutch at the back of his jacket and his hearts calmed. If it was for Rose, he would face down any powerful holiday god.

It seemed like mere moments before the sleigh came in for a landing, but even so, the suspense held everyone in a tight hush. The reindeer snorted and tossed their heads, ensuring that no one wanted to come near enough to feel the impact of those impressive horns. And then the large figure in the sleigh got to his feet. Everyone else leaned back a bit on instinct.

His fur-trimmed clothing was as red as blood, his beard was as white as a ghost, his eyes glittered like banked coals, and his claws-- well, actually, the Doctor noted that Santa had hands, not claws at all, though they were covered in black gloves. He exhaled a subtle breath, glad that Santa did not have that particular advantage over him.

He stepped down from the sleigh, revealing that he was actually shorter than the Doctor. He was still much rounder, but his smaller stature definitely made him seem less threatening. Actually, the longer he looked at Santa, the less menacing he appeared. His eyes didn’t really glow like coals, but rather they twinkled a bit, like stars. With the smile on his face pulling dimples in his cheeks, the Doctor found himself wanting to smile back. The man certainly was the embodiment of the word ‘jolly,’ though the Doctor hadn’t really known what the word meant until now. Still, he wouldn’t let his guard down, it could be a trick. 

“Well, well,” said Santa. “The Doctor, I expect, unless I’m much mistaken?”

Santa apparently knew his name. Well, of course he did, he sees you when you’re sleeping and awake and naughty and nice and all that. “Er, yes,” the Doctor answered, scratching the back of his head briefly. “Hello. Don’t think we’ve ever been graced with a visit from you before.”

“Indeed not,” Santa agreed, moving closer, but still staying a good distance away from the crowd, as if sensing their unease. “I only visit places that celebrate Christmas. And today was your first, wasn’t it?”

“Ehm, yes.” He hadn’t known that celebrating Christmas would act like a homing beacon for Santa. Blast it.

“But I’m afraid I’m also here on another mission,” Santa said. “One of my elves is missing.”

The Doctor’s hand tightened on Rose’s arm. Santa had come to take her back. That was almost worse than magicking Halloweentown away. He didn’t want Rose to go, she had introduced him to a new holiday that he loved and invigorated his love for his own holiday all at once. She made him feel things that he couldn’t ever remember feeling. Would all that go away if she did?

“Oh, um, sorry to hear that,” he stuttered. “There’s no elves here! Nope. Not a one. I think we might have someone named Elvis, though. Talented fellow, plays the guitar? Sound like your man?”

Santa chuckled, his round belly jiggling slightly as he did so. “I’m afraid this elf isn’t a man at all.” He gave the Doctor a knowing look. “And I think you’ll find extensive fibbing gets one put on the naughty list.”

The Doctor’s chest deflated. He couldn’t fool Santa, he didn’t know why he’d even tried. Well, yes, he did. She was standing right behind him. He’d lie through his teeth for Rose anyday. He felt her hand touch his, giving it a squeeze before stepping around him.

“Here I am, Santa,” said Rose, contritely. “I was going to come back.”

“You worried quite a few people,” Santa said, not unkindly. “Myself included.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. Spreading Christmas cheer is what elves do,” Santa said. “And it seems you did a marvelous job here.” He gestured back at the sleigh. “But it’s time to come home now.”

Rose sighed deeply, sadness in her eyes as she took a step forward. The Doctor sprang into action, grabbing her hand and halting her progress.

“Please don’t go, Rose,” he pleaded, a note of desperation entering his voice. He didn’t care. He  _ was  _ desperate. There was still so much he wanted to understand, not the least of which was how he felt about her. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. To us!” He swept his other hand back to encompass the rest of Halloweentown. The people nodded, holding up their gifts and cards, adding a few of their own voices of approval. “See how you’ve changed everything? You changed  _ me, _ in the best of ways. I know I don’t have much to offer you, but… please don’t go. I couldn’t bear to lose this… this  _ feeling  _ you’ve given me.”

“Doctor,” said Santa, his tone sympathetic but firm, “if you truly understand what Christmas is all about, then you’ll let Rose return home. She doesn’t belong here.”

He hung his head. “I know.” He knew Rose didn’t belong in Halloweentown anymore than he belonged in Christmastown, but he’d had to try.

“Hang on,” said Rose, pulling her hand from the Doctor’s to place them both on her hips. “The Doctor is my friend but he doesn’t ‘let’ me return anywhere,” she said, facing Santa down. “It’s  _ my  _ decision. And I may have a job in Christmastown, but I go where I want to. There’s no law stating I have to stay in one place, is there?”

“No,” said Santa, looking impressed.

The Doctor was definitely impressed. His little elf was standing her ground! He could learn from her. “But Rose, your family,” he said. “You can’t choose this bleak, colorless world over your own. It’s full of love and happiness and people who care about you.”

She tilted her head, challenging him. “Aren’t there people here who care about me?”

A smile crept across his mouth. “Of course.” He held out his hands for hers and she took them instantly with her own smile, a touch of smugness at the corner.

“Then I would be a terrible friend if I didn’t come to visit. Besides,” she added, looking up at him through her lashes, “what good is living in the happiest of places if being cut off from you would only make me sad?”

He blinked in astonishment. “You… really?”

She nodded again, her smile growing as she tenderly stroked the backs of his hands with her thumbs. “It took leaving Christmastown to find an even greater love than the kind I’d known all my life.”

He stared at her and the rest of the world fell away. She encompassed the whole of his scope as the peculiar feeling that had centered around his stomach ever since he met Rose exploded and multiplied, spidering out through his whole body. That was it exactly. An even greater love. He hadn’t even known it existed. What a truly rare gift she’d given him, one that he couldn’t hope to match, but he would definitely try if she gave him the opportunity.

A warm laugh from Santa drew him out of the moment and they looked at the red-suited man who was smiling at the two of them. “Well, who am I to argue with that?” he said before turning back to his sleigh.

The Doctor’s hearts jumped. “Then she doesn’t have to go back?”

Santa sat down in the sleigh before answering. “As Rose said, she is her own elf. She can come and go as she pleases and we really have no say in it. And I see she’ll come to no harm here, so I have no reason to protest if she wants to stay. And Doctor,” he added with a glimmer in his eye, “feel free to come up to the workshop next time you’re in town. I’d love to learn more about your holiday as well.” The jolly man laughed heartily as the Doctor ducked his head in embarrassment. He just couldn’t pull anything over Santa, it seemed.

Rose and the Doctor grinned at each other as Santa called out the names of his reindeer, a shimmer of sparkles growing beneath their hooves as they circled out of the square and lifted off into the sky. The rest of the people cheered at the display, then gasped as a bolt of magic shot from the sleigh and into the clouds above the town. Tiny white flakes began drifting down, quickly covering Halloweentown in a layer of soft ice.

“What’s this?” the people began asking, holding out their hands and trying to catch the flakes as they fell, then blinking in surprise as they melted to the touch. The Doctor stifled a laugh as a few of them tried to taste the snow, reminding him of his own experience. He didn’t attempt to educate them, not tonight. They could explore on their own for now.

“Happy Halloween!” Santa shouted down as he began to disappear into the flurries of snow.

“Merry Christmas!” called Rose and the Doctor, lifting their arms in farewell, their opposite hands automatically reaching down to entwine.

After Santa’s departure, they walked through town hand in hand, laughing at the snow antics of everyone else. The vampires appeared particularly good at ice skating and even they looked surprised. The kids were already building forts from which to throw snowballs at each other. At the moment, it didn’t matter that they didn’t know what snow was. They just knew they liked it.

When they reached the end of the street, the Doctor pulled Rose through the gate of the cemetery and up toward the unrolling hill. It was quieter there, with the snow muffling most of the sounds, it felt like they were alone.

At the top of the hill, he stopped and they looked out at the fresh white expanse, brightly lit by the full moon. The moment seemed important somehow, but he didn’t feel nervous. He knew that Rose felt it too, that new feeling he now knew was love.  _ Different  _ love. And for now, it was enough just to be aware of that. They didn’t have to define it any further tonight, that could come later.

“I suppose I could take this opportunity to give you your gift,” she said at last.

It took him a second to remember. “Oh yes! The tradition. What is it?”

Reaching into the pocket of her skirt, she retrieved a sprig of a green plant with white berries. “It’s called mistletoe,” she explained.

He nodded, absorbing the information. “And what does it do?”

“You’re meant to hang it where everyone can see and if two people stand underneath it together…” She smiled. “Well, here, I’ll show you.”

She placed one hand on his shoulder and stood on her toes, reaching way up to hold the sprig over the Doctor’s head. He was just registering their position when suddenly her warm breath was on his cheek and her soft lips were pressed against his.

His eyes went wide and he sucked in a breath through his nose, shock radiating through his system as well as a flush of heat like he’d never known, different even from the scorching air machine at Rose’s house. This fire was brand new, it came from within, from a deep dark place he hadn’t even been aware of. It thrilled him and made his hearts pound in a way that scaring never had and he wanted to learn more, to discover more about this new side of himself.

But Rose pulled away with concern on her face, taking his reaction for rejection. He grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back.

“Do it again, I think it’s working,” he said.

“What is?” she asked, her breath fanning against his lips, making them tingle.

“I feel all good inside,” he said with a smile.

With an answering smile, Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and guided him down to meet her lips in a second kiss. As her fingers threaded through his hair and an involuntary moan issued from the back of his throat, the Doctor knew without a doubt that this was his  _ favorite  _ Christmas tradition.


	5. Epilogue: Onto the Next Great Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is only the beginning for the Pumpkin King and his Christmas elf. Their lives will never be the same and they wouldn't have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your encouragement on this fic and your patience. I didn't complete this as soon as I'd hoped, but I do believe the chapters are better for it. I hope you enjoyed this fluffy cavity-inducing fic! ^_^

They didn’t stay in Halloweentown, but neither did they move to Christmastown full-time either. A love for both holidays led to Rose and the Doctor equally splitting their time between both towns, with Rose staying in Halloweentown almost constantly in the two months leading up to Halloween, and then the Doctor going from the final event directly to Christmastown, to spend the two months until Christmas helping there.

They were always busy and they loved it, learning more and more about each other and their holidays all the time, even where they didn’t expect it. It was on one romantic stroll through the cemetery that Rose discovered something peculiar.

“That’s odd,” she said, looking at a particular headstone and then moving to the next one to read it as well.

“What is?” he asked.

“I feel like I’ve seen these names before.” She went to the next headstone and the next. “Yes, I’m sure of it,” she said as she reached the end of the row and looked back. “But I don’t know how that would be possible.”

The Doctor hadn’t known either and had put it out of his mind, but apparently, Rose was determined to seek answers. After a trip back to Christmastown, Rose excitedly returned to him one morning with news.

“I know where the names come from!” she announced, breezing past him into his house. She began to remove her coat and hat as she turned toward him with a bright smile. “Do you want to guess?”

He made several attempts, all incorrect, before his curiosity won out. “Just tell me!” he exclaimed, eagerly.

She bounced on her toes. “The names were all on the naughty or nice list at one point,” she revealed. “Remember how I said I didn’t know what happened to the names once the list updates itself? Well, apparently, they end up here! Not even Santa knew that, he had to help me figure it out!”

“My Rose,” he said, rocking back on his heels and gazing at her with unabashed admiration. “You are so brilliant.”

She ducked her head and blushed, so of course, he had to come over and kiss her.

The Doctor’s presence in Christmastown grew to be not just tolerated, but looked forward to. He shared all of his mad ideas with Santa, who sometimes chose the best ones to implement. The Doctor’s ‘pumpkin spice’ scent and flavor ended up being one of his biggest successes. And even after just one Christmas celebrated in Halloweentown, Rose assured the Doctor that he was definitely on the nice list for the coming year. He was utterly delighted and they celebrated by making cookies.

He was also very proud of his little elf as she skirted the line of ‘naughty’ with her own Halloween antics. He would never forget the time she brought candy canes to Halloweentown that ended up being pickle flavor instead of peppermint. He laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks.

One day after Christmas, they had a little spare time and he asked her if she felt up for a new adventure. She rolled her eyes.

“Of course I am. What do you have in mind?”

With a grin, he held out his hand for hers, wiggling his fingers as an enticement. Her hand slid across his palm, warming his cool skin, interlocking their fingers.

“Run!” he said, tugging her in the direction of the forest.

They ran all the way to the circle of trees, where they arrived giggling and out of breath. They took a moment to compose themselves, waiting to enter the circle until they’d recovered from the run. It was a special place to them, after all, the catalyst that had led to their meeting. Every time they made the trip between worlds, it still held a rush of adrenaline, that feeling of magic.

That tingling emotion was even greater in this moment as, hand in hand, they approached the door with the large red heart. When it opened, the scent of cinnamon and roses drifted up, filling their lungs as they took the leap.

\---

Rose’s eyes were still closed as she came to, but she could feel the Doctor’s hand in hers, assuring her of his presence. She was lying flat on her back, but nothing felt hurt, so she took her time, cataloguing her senses, not wanting to miss anything of this new experience. Her other hand stretched at her side, brushing against the surface she was currently lying on, somewhat solid, but a little spongy at the same time, with tickly fringe catching between her fingers. A sweet smell surrounded them… Apples.

“Well, this is new,” came an unfamiliar voice from above.

She opened her eyes to see the face of a very handsome man hovering over her, framed by the clearest and bluest sky Rose had ever seen. She sat up in surprise at the same time as the Doctor.

The stranger smiled, revealing straight and shiny white teeth and dimples in his tanned skin. His eyes were bright violet-blue, his hair was dark and full, his jaw impossibly chiseled. He was wearing a one-shouldered garment that resembled a white bedsheet, which fell to just above his knees. The sheet looked as if he’d chosen it not for protection from the elements, but more because it looked easy to remove. Rose briefly wondered if the man was cold, but she noted that the air in this land was quite warm. Perfect, actually.

He held out a hand to each of them, helping them to regain their feet. He didn’t appear apprehensive of the visitors, much the opposite, in fact. “I’m Jack,” he said, looking them up and down and making no effort to hide his appreciation. “You look like you’re not from around here,” he said, lifting an eyebrow at the Doctor, whose appearance stood out much more than Rose’s.

The Doctor quirked his own eyebrow at the silky tone. “Why did that sound like you’re coming on to me?”

Jack gave an easy shrug. “Force of habit.”

The three of them jumped as a voice down the hill from where they stood pierced the air with a cry of, “JAAAAAAAAACK!” It seemed to have come from the outskirts of the town in the valley below. They could see lots neat little houses in shades of pastel with gingerbread moulding that looked like lace, all surrounding a gleaming cathedral that stretched toward the sky.

“Whoops, that’s my cue,” said Jack. He took off running through the sweet-smelling red grasses, down the other side of the hill. A cloud of pink butterflies with heart-shaped wings took flight as he dashed through the field. “Remember, you never saw me!” he called back to Rose and the Doctor.

Just as Jack disappeared over the next hill, a woman with hair as fiery as the red grass they stood on ran up, clad in a similar bedsheet garment, only hers fell to her ankles. Her turquoise eyes were sharp and fairly luminous with green sparks of fury.

“Did you see a man with dark hair, wandering eyes, and a tendency to flirt with anything that moves come this way?” It almost sounded like a demand rather than a request for information.

Not knowing what to do, Rose and the Doctor each pointed in a different direction, like a two-person scarecrow impression. The woman heaved an exasperated sigh and ran past them, obviously deciding that these two strangers would be of no help to her.

The Pumpkin King and the Christmas elf turned to one another and burst into giggles, hastily smothered. There were already so many questions and they’d only just arrived. Joy and excitement mingled between them; this promised to be fantastic.

Joining hands once more, they ran down toward the town, laughter tumbling free as they barrelled onward toward their next great adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, they landed in Valentown, which opens up a whole new holiday adventure! Jack is Jack, so he had to be there, and Donna is mad because she heard he was flirting with someone else (which he was, because he's Jack). In Valentown, if someone gets jealous, their eyes start to turn green (hence, the Green Eyed Monster), and that's why Donna's eyes were sparking green. The grass is a throwback to DW's applegrass on New Earth, only it's red because of the holiday. 
> 
> I imagine Rose and the Doctor would discover the cathedral of St Valentine and the temple of Aphrodite and the Museum of True Love where they learn all about the power of True Love's Kiss. TLK has SERIOUS effects while in Valentown, which they will discover during their romantic dinner. When the citizens discover that the two visitors have True Love, they throw them a giant party in their honor and gift them a fantasy suite for the night. Which is where you can all imagine them learning about bow chika wow wow, if you want! Hehe!
> 
> Also, I imagine when they’re exploring the town, they stop in a cafe or something, or maybe the temple of Eros, and they see a portrait of Casanova. Except it’s DT’s Casanova, so he looks just like the Doctor, only alive and with blue eyes. Can you imagine their reaction to that? Also, the people’s reaction to seeing someone who looks like Casanova. Some might even think it’s really him and start throwing themselves at him. Cue Rose getting green eyes from jealousy a la the Green Eyed Monster!


End file.
